BoxingScene Round Table: What Are the Biggest Storylines for Fury-Usyk?

Lucas Ketelle: The idea of an undisputed heavyweight champion is the most compelling storyline for me. Since Lennox Lewis achieved the feat, the big question has been who would be next. This fight answers that question – which is what good fights often do.

The bout doesn’t just declare a winner, it identifies the best heavyweight since Wladimir Klitschko – or perhaps even Lewis. It’s a fight that means something, one that will be talked about for years to come, not just consumed.

Eric Raskin: There are countless storylines that interest me here – I’ve already written about the importance of establishing a singular heavyweight champion of the world and about the pound-for-pound implications if Usyk wins. But perhaps most intriguing of them all is the potential for this one fight to rewrite Fury’s legacy.

It wasn’t so long ago that he was viewed as definitively the best heavyweight of his generation and possibly an all-time great who would’ve been, at worst, a live underdog against any champ from Louis to Lewis. But if Fury loses to Usyk, on the heels of barely eking by Francis Ngannou, the reevaluation of his entire career – “Who did he ever beat besides an aging Wladimir Klitschko in a dreadful fight and a one-dimensional hype job in Deontay Wilder?” – will be fierce.

It wouldn’t be entirely fair, as it may be that Fury was the best of his era but slowed down significantly as he hit his mid-30s. Still, the validity of all he has accomplished in the past decade is at stake on Saturday.

Owen Lewis: While this fight could rewrite Fury’s legacy, it has the power to enhance Usyk’s almost beyond belief. If Usyk wins this fight, he’ll have cleared out both cruiserweight and heavyweight – the latter in an incredibly short time frame (it was barely two and a half years ago that he took Anthony Joshua’s belts). Evander Holyfield might have fought better opposition in his day, but even he couldn’t become the best heavyweight of his era.

If Usyk can pull this off, he’s not just a lock for the Hall of Fame (he’s already in), he’s also a true all-time great. You could argue that taking over a division full of fighters while giving up so much height and weight to every opponent is the most spectacular feat any active boxer has managed. While Fury needs to win this fight to salvage his legacy, if Usyk wins, his legacy takes on a whole new dimension.

Jason Langendorf: With a trimmer Fury set to step into the ring in Riyadh on Saturday, and with Usyk having dismantled one of the division’s biggest and best in Anthony Joshua, it can be overlooked that the first battle for the undisputed heavyweight championship of the world in a quarter century is also a straight-up David-versus-Goliath story.

For all his excellence, Usyk is a blown-up cruiser (with so-so power even in that division) now operating in a heavyweight division that has evolved into the Land of the Giants. Yet we’re excited by this fight precisely because Usyk has the tools to win, and because Fury has lately shown cracks in the foundation. Can Usyk get inside, poke, pot-shot and convince the judges that his skill and ring generalship beat all? Will a lighter-on-his-feet Fury cut off the ring and use his length, levers and still-prominent love handles to wear down Usyk? This is why we’re here.

Adam Noble-Forcey: This has to be one of the most difficult fights to predict since I began working in the industry. Both men have tremendous attributes – yet both have big flaws.

Fury’s life-and-death moment with Francis Ngannou raises massive doubts about whether he’s still the fighter that knocked out Deontay Wilder twice. But he has always risen to the occasion when his back was against the wall. That he’s a man who loves to prove people wrong could be a huge asset for Fury.

As for Usyk, rolling around on the floor for a number of minutes in his stoppage victory over Daniel Dubois raises concerns. In the end, however, his performance was very impressive.

Word on the street is that Usyk has been dropped badly in sparring – at least twice – but sparring is sparring.

Effectively Fury is the home fighter in Riyadh. A good big guy tends to beat a good smaller guy, but if anybody can break that curse, it’s Usyk. In the end, the fighters’ flaws may tell the tale.

Tris Dixon: The number of questions that you can ask in the build up. This fight has always been intriguing, and the closer it has come the more undecided I have been. At BoxingScene, we have spoken to dozens of experts, and I’m still not much further forward – though I do feel it will be a more strategic fight than a crashing, bashing clash. I can see both having success. I can see it being even, close on the cards, and I can see cuts, possibly from a head clash or maybe Fury’s getting picked and pecked at by Usyk’s shots from mid-range. Is Fury on a decline? Will the hard-living catch up to him? Will size matter? Will it deliver on the hype? Will we get a clear outcome?